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The unearthed shotgun was tested by forensic experts after being pulled from the ground.

But Greater Manchester Police told Channel 5: “We examined the gun to see if it could be linked to any criminal incident that has occurred nationally. However due to the amount of time it had been in the ground, the degradation was so much that there were no forensic opportunities available.”

The brother of John Kilbride, 12, who was murdered by Brady and Hindley in November 1963, has called for a new search of the Moors where the shotgun was found.

Terry Kilbride said: “That area needs to be looked into. What’s a shotgun doing there? I’ve always thought the police should have continued the search.”

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Police officially gave up the search for Keith Bennett in 2009, saying that only a major scientific breakthrough or fresh evidence would see the hunt for his body restart.

Hindley died in prison in 2002, aged 60 and Brady is seriously ill and believed to be close death.

Bill Harriman, from the British Association for Shooting and Conservation, and one of the country’s leading experts in firearms, said: “The popularity of this type of weapon really blossomed in the 1960s.

"Whoever did stash it didn’t make a very good job of it. I’ve seen guns that come out of the ground in the 1930s that were really well protected and there’s very little wrong with them.”